Intel launches 320 Series, 2.5-inch SSDs up to 600GB

The third generation of SSDs from Intel are now available, greatly improves capacities and data protection from previous generations.

by Allen Ngo, 2011/03/30

Intel this week has released its newest generation of Solid State Drives (SSDs), called the 320 Series. The new SSDs will replace the X25-M series and will be available in models ranging from 40GB up to an incredible 600GB.

In order to achieve the high capacity densities for the 2.5-inch drives, the 320 Series are manufactured on a 25nm NAND flash memory process, down from the 32nm manufacturing process of the X25-M series. Additionally, the new drives will improve on input/output operations per second (IOPS), write speeds, and read speeds, up to 39,500 IOPS, 220MB/sec, and 270MB/sec, respectively.

The new SSDs will add redundancies to prevent data loss in case of power surges, according to PCMag, and will support the 128-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for additional data protection. Two free utilities as part of the Management Tool Suite are also included to aid users in transferring data and maintaining SSD performance and health.

The 320 Series, however, will use the same controller chip as the previous generation, claims TechSpot. This means users will still be limited to the same 3Gbps SATA bandwidth, and will have to instead purchase Intel’s higher-end 510 Series in order to achieve transfer speeds of up to 500MB/sec.

SSDs continue to carve into the HDD market due to their speeds and lack of fragile mechanical parts that are often prone to failures in typical hard drives. This makes SSDs ideal for applications such as thin-and-light notebooks and consumer tablets. For those interested in the new 320 Series, each drive will come standard with a three-year warranty and are expected to retail at $89, $159, $209, $289, $529, and $1069 for the 40GB, 80GB, 120GB, 160GB, 300GB, and 600GB models, respectively.